Gender, Women and Sexualities Studies Major, B.A.

About This Program

What are power, privilege, and oppression? In what ways do these impact individuals and communities?  Where do they influence access and opportunity? And what can we do personally and professionally to ensure more equitable and inclusive homes, communities, and societies?

GWS invites you to investigate your own experiences and environments through a critical feminist and queer lens to gain a stronger perspective on the importance of gender equity and social justice.

Gender, Women, and Sexualities studies is an excellent field of study for those interested in learning about how to become active in their own work toward social justice.  Through analytical and reflective course work, students gain valuable skills and knowledge that will help them in their everyday lives and careers.  Some of these skills include: written and oral communication, critical analysis, strategic thinking, problem solving, and research.

Required Courses (Catalog year 2023 or after)

The recommended sequence for courses are as follows: 1000-level introductory courses, 2000-level courses, core and interdisciplinary electives, 3000-level theory course followed by a 4000-level senior experience.

If you would like to learn more about a specific course, please check out the academic catalog HERE.

Benefits of Earning Your Degree at MSU Denver

MSU Denver emphasizes academic and experiential learning. As a Gender, Women and Sexualities Studies major you can take advantage of the following:

Focus Area: Develop a focus area in Transnational and Cultural Diversity, Social Justice and Activism, or Bodies and Sexualities.  Gain knowledge about the histories and experiences of oppressed and underrepresented gender, sexual and racial/ethnic groups. Apply this knowledge to pursue careers within a wide variety of social justice and equity-based organizations.

Experiential Opportunities: Complete a service-learning course, which involves 30 hours of volunteer work, and complete an internship or teaching assistantship—all of which will give you relevant career experience.

Student Services: Take advantage of the services offered by the Gender Institute for Teaching and Advocacy, which houses the Gender, Women and Sexualities Studies Program. Services include wellness/lactation rooms, student advising and advocacy, scholarship support, a snack stop, and community space.

Feminist First Mondays: Get to know the diverse community of feminist scholars on campus through monthly forums that present research and creative work related to feminism, women and gender issues, critical race questions and social justice.

Bridge Speaker: Attend the annual Bridge Speaker series. The event serves as a bridge between Black History Month in February and Women’s History in March.  GITA brings noted speakers to campus to discuss educational issues and shed light on the lives and contributions of African American women.

Triple F Film Series: Take part in monthly film screenings featuring work by and for people of color focusing on social justice and feminism.

Student activities: Develop leadership skills through involvement in the Iota Iota Iota Women’s and Gender Honor Society and Feminist Alliance at MSU Denver.

Facilities and Resources

MSU Denver’s Gender Institute for Teaching and Advocacy is located in Boulder Creek, just north of the Colfax light rail station. The Institute serves as a feminist campus resource that provides programming and advocacy related to gender inclusion and social equity.

Career Opportunities for Our Graduates

MSU Denver Gender, Women and Sexualities Studies program graduates have pursued a range of careers such as:

• Community organizer
• Professor
• Grant manager
• Academic advisor
• Business development representative
• Volunteer advisor
• Patient safety officer
• Visitor services manager
• Physician’s services coordinator
• Freelance writer

Featured Faculty

Anahi Russo Garrido

Associate Professor Anahi Russo Garrido is currently investigating intimacy in Mexico City in the lives of three generations of women participating in queer spaces and is the co-editor of Building Feminist Movements and Organizations. Her research and teaching interests include transnational gender and sexualities, global women’s movements, LGBT and transgender studies and queer and feminist anthropology.

Arlene Sgoutas

Professor Arlene Sgoutas is the co-editor of “Mothers Under Fire: Mothering in Conflict Areas”. Her research and teaching interests include feminist interventions in global politics, international women’s resistance movements and motherhood studies. She was the recipient of the MSU Denver President’s Distinguished Service Award for faculty in 2014.

Sandra Mizumoto Posey

Associate Professor Sandra Mizumoto Posey was trained as a folklorist at UCLA where she received her M.A and Ph.D., but she has pursued a career that is truly interdisciplinary. Here at MSU Denver, she’s taught courses both for the major and five of our nine general studies categories plus the multicultural graduation requirement. Her publications have spanned ethnography, pedagogy, poetry and creative nonfiction. Her current writing focuses on memoir.

Sonny Dhoot

Assistant Professor Sonny Dhoot’s current research explores how the configurations of race, capital, gender, sexuality and normalcy shape the erotic lives of queers of colour. His current research and teaching interests include, queer/trans of color critique, decolonial/critical race feminisms, transnational and women of color feminisms, and queer erotics and sexuality studies. Sonny is also interested in anti-carceral community projects.

Stephanie Dimatulac Santos

Stephanie Dimatulac Santos is an interdisciplinary scholar who uses ethnography, computational humanities, and cultural analysis to examine gender and development issues in Southeast Asia. Her current book project, Filipina Women and Social Reproduction Theory, uses the Filipino concept of “kabuhayan” or life-making as a counter-narrative to examine how development instruments privilege Western ideas of labor and resource extraction. Her teaching and research interests include transnational feminisms, Asian and Asian Diaspora Studies, and feminist science and technology. Her next research project examines emerging forms of transnational digital labor in Southeast Asia.

Alumni at Work

Graduates from MSU Denver’s Gender, Women and Sexualities Studies program have gone on to work at places such as:

• American Water Works Association
• Buck Family Foundation
• Colorado Department of Education
• MSU Denver
• Northern Arizona University
• PeaceJam Foundation
• Pinterest
• SCL Health
• Sounds True
• State of Colorado
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• Women’s Bean Project

Gender, Women and Sexualities Studies alumni have been accepted for graduate study at the following schools:

• Clark University
• Colorado State University
• Binghamton University
• Regis University
• University of Wisconsin
• University of New Mexico
• University of Denver